Anyone Know If Quaker Oats Are Safe?

[Kassidy's mom]

But honestly haven't checked into it myself.

We just had Kass' levels checked last week (3 months since diagnosis) and she is still anemic (8.8) and still has a TTG level of 15 (was 100+ at time of diagnosis). Doc said they want the TTG below 3.

She has gained 3 pounds in 3 months, her belly is still a little big, but has gone down quite a bit.

I thought I was doing really well with keeping her gluten-free....the only thing I can think of is the oatmeal-she eats it every morning for breakfast-she loves it!

Any ideas or suggestions on how to get her iron up also?

[Smunkeemom]

I was told that oats were forbidden on a gluten free diet, because it's so easy for them to get contaminated.

also, you might check everything for malt flavoring too, it's one of the things that slipped me up in the beginning the doctor said "Kelloggs Rice Krispies are fine" but it turns out that they have malt flavoring in them which is made from barley, which is has gluten.

[Rachel--24]

Oats are a definate no-no. Quaker Oats are highly contaminated and not safe for a gluten-free diet.

[Guest nini]

even if oats were acceptable on a gluten free diet, Quaker Oats are contaminated with wheat for sure... Oats are on the forbidden list as far as I'm concerned, Even if they aren't contaminated, some people react to the protein in them just like gluten. So, get rid of the oatmeal.

There are some gluten free porridges that are available online that are very close to the taste and texture of oatmeal. My fave. is Barkat Porridge Flakes... I love it!

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[Braunson's-mom]

My son threw up every time he ate oatmeal. So even before we became gluten-free we had went off of oatmeal. But McCains Irish oatmeal is gluten-free. I comes in a can at most health food stores. It is very expensive but worth it. I cook with it and also make cookies for my son and now my daughter.

I didn't know about it untill I went to out support group meetin that we have and they told me about it and I was very excited. They told me that the Irish process their oatmeal seperate and no cross contamination.

[Merika]

There is a roaring debate among celiac researchers over whether oats are safe or not for celiacs. Generally, it is divided by continent - if you're in North America, the advice is don't eat oats. If you're in Europe, it's that oats are ok. McCann's Irish Oatmeal is the only oatmeal in the US that claims to be close to "gluten free" by "acceptable levels".

Oats do not contain the exact gluten that is known to cause celiac damage BUT studies done ON CELIACS show that the protein in oats CAN also be damaging, and that, like celiac, sometimes this damage is felt, and sometimes it is not. This means that the doctors DO NOT REALLY KNOW if oats are safe for celiacs to eat.

In my opinion, if the jury is still out on oats, I am NOT going to eat them, regardless of contamination issues.

Merika

[jenvan]

I second what's been said here--no oats b/c they do cause damage in some celiacs and even if by a stroke of luck you had no reaction, you still have a near impossible job of finding uncontaminated oats. stick with cream of rice and other hot cereal subs.

[Ursa Major]

I agree with the oats issue, you'll have to find something else for her to eat for breakfast.

It will take more than three months to get her iron up. Is she taking supplements? The gain will be very slow without supplementing with iron. There are some great liquid formulas that taste great (in health food stores, not pharmacies).

[Packard]

But honestly haven't checked into it myself.

We just had Kass' levels checked last week (3 months since diagnosis) and she is still anemic (8.8) and still has a TTG level of 15 (was 100+ at time of diagnosis). Doc said they want the TTG below 3.

She has gained 3 pounds in 3 months, her belly is still a little big, but has gone down quite a bit.

I thought I was doing really well with keeping her gluten-free....the only thing I can think of is the oatmeal-she eats it every morning for breakfast-she loves it!

Any ideas or suggestions on how to get her iron up also?

There are a lot of really acceptable substitutes for oatmeal so this really should not be a big issue. I eat oatmeal (Quaker) with no issues, but my celiac is very mild and mitigated by the drugs I take.

There is Cream of Rice as a substitute. I make a cheaper version of Cream of Rice. I buy Minute Rice and put a couple of scoops in my coffee grinder. It cooks in 5 minutes. Since I always keep rice on hand, this is an easy thing for me.

My Chinese roommate in college used to make porridge in a rice cooker. He simply left the cooker on overnight and in the morning it was porridge.

Brown rice is an excellent source of iron (about 1/2 that of oatmeal).

Google: "Iron Rich Foods" and you will get many lists of foods that are high in iron. Wheat and Oats come up often, but there are others.

Adding dried fruit makes it more tasty.

[jenvan]

Packard-

2 questions out of curiousity-- what drugs are you taking for Celiac, or to help with symptoms? how can you be sure you are having no issues with oatmeal? have you had follow-up testing? i have posed this question to others as intestinal damage/lesions can take place without "symptoms", as can other organ damage. something to think about....

[Guest barbara3675]

All these people that say not to eat oats are right. I even bought some from the health food store that were grown and processed where there were only oats grown and processed---supposed to be pure and they gave me such pains in my stomach. You could try grits which are made from corn. I have been meaning to try them. I miss oatmeal so much, I think it is one of the things that I miss the most. I have found substitutes for a lot of the other things. Barbara

[WGibs]

I used to love oatmeal, but gave it up when I went gluten-free. It just wasn't worth the risk, especially initially. Now, I'm feeling so great (and so bad when I screw up), that I'm not willing to experiment. Possibly related, I have since realized that I used to always go running to the bathroom midway through a dish of oatmeal. I always thought it was a normal reaction to the fiber, but maybe not!

Anyway, we had a cold, rainy morning here today and I tried cream of rice for the first time. I was not expecting to like it, but I was pleasantly surprised! I made it with a little less water than called for and it was a little chewy like oatmeal. I sprinkled it with raw sugar and sliced a banana on top.

I'm not sure of the iron content of that breakfast, but it sure was good. And rice and banana are notoriously easy to digest, so I found it to be a comforting way to start the day after getting glutened a couple days ago and just starting to normalize.

[junieb]

We were told by the celiac center at columbia university that McCann's & Country Choice were both safe brands to use.

[jenvan]

Boy, It feels weird to give an opinion contrary to one of the leading Celiac centers in the country--that I would have a lot of respect for. But I can't imagine trusting those two brands when a study was done that batch tested those 2 brands and Quaker and every test showed each brand was above the legal level of gluten contamination. Has anyone ever seen anything refuting this test or any changes in McCann's or country choice?

If someone is interested in reading more I posted a slide show and some other info on the oats thread here. Can't find it at the moment though...

[Jenn2005]

Does anyone know if the Quaker Grits are cross contaminated? I was buying them for my husband because I had read I believe on the Delphi List that they were gluten-free but he was having a lot of gluten symptoms and I narrowed it down to those. Just curious what everyones experience or opinion is of the Quaker Grits. Thanks.

Jennifer